Nightmares
by LizzyWaterflower
Summary: Misty's reoccurring nightmare just got worse. How will she get to sleep now? Pokeshipping fluff! c:


"_Ash! Wait up!"_

"_Hurry up, Misty! I want to get more badges," Ash called back to her. Misty was struggling to keep up now; Ash was speeding down the pavement. _

_She stopped to catch her breath, bending down and supporting herself on her knees. Why was he in such a rush? It wasn't like the world was ending or anything. Misty chuckled inwardly before running to catch up to her frantic best friend._

_After a few long paces, Misty realised she couldn't see Ash. Where was he? In an instant, Ash seemed to appear about ten meters away from her, smiling, before running away again._

_Misty smiled uncertainty. Something wasn't right. As Misty sped down the path to keep up with him, she realised Pikachu wasn't on his shoulder. Also, a road unfolded next to the path she was running on. _

_A shout from Ash shook her from her confusion. "Misty! C'mon the gym's just over there!" Ash pointed to the other side of the road that had just appeared. _

_Misty was about to reach Ash when without warning he ran straight into the road. Panic surged through Misty's body. _

"_Ash! What the heck are you doing?! You might get hi-" Misty was interrupted by the long piercing sound of a car horn. Ash stood motionless in the road as the car sped at him at full speed before impact._

.

.

.

Bright blue-green eyes jerked open.

Misty raised a hand, her heart pounded against it in her heaving chest. Her forehead was drenched in sweat and her limbs trembled. The horn of the car in her dream still echoed in her head. She slowly pushed herself into a sitting position, steadying her breathing. Squinting in the darkness, she glanced at the illuminated screen of the clock on her nightstand. _1:36am._

As she slowly came to, her mind cleared and she recalled the dream. She'd had the same dream before. Each time she had to watch Ash being hit by the same car. Each time, she could do nothing about it. Her feet were always stuck, frozen to the ground.

She squeezed her eyes shut and tucked her knees under her chin, hugging them tightly. She tried her best not to let out a whimper. Her hands were still trembling and her heart was still beating in her throat. The dreams were always so vivid, so incredibly real that Misty was always shaken up after one.

Usually after a dream like this, Misty was able to fall asleep again almost instantly. However, this one had truly pushed Misty over the edge. The thought of losing her best friend practically ripped her heart in two right then and there.

How she was going to get back to sleep now, she didn't know. She settled back into the covers. Maybe before she knew it, she'd be lulled back to sleep on her own.

Or maybe not.

She didn't know how long had passed since she had stayed in the same usually-comfortable sleeping position, but she did know that she would _not_be lulled back to sleep any time soon. A few more shifts in the bed in an attempt at another position proved no use either.

The good news was she was no longer trembling and her heart rate had slowed. After calming herself down a bit, she was able to think more clearly and focus on happy thoughts. The bad news was after all this thinking; she was now fully awake and found herself scowling at the ceiling. _All because of this stupid Ash nightmare._

Speaking of that, she turned her head to face the opposite side of the room.

Her eyes met a slumped figure in the bed, and her scowl faded as she caught a glimpse of a black mop of hair in the darkness. It was silly really, here she was stressing over a dream where her best friend dies, when really he was sleeping not five meters away from here in the next bed.

Ash: her best friend and recently-turned boyfriend. They'd been travelling together for years in the Kanto region with their friend Brock. But a few years later, Misty had to return to Cerulean to become gym leader. Only a couple of months ago had she returned to Ash, who happened to be traveling alone at the time. It'd been much less time since they'd started going out, but she loved the feeling (and benefits) all the same. After all she'd waited a long time for it to happen, even though she never expected it would.

She tore her gaze away from him, lifting them to the worn out hat on her bed stand. The most recent cap he wore was lying next to it; but Misty was only interested in the first hat. He never used to let anyone apart from himself touch that hat when they travelled together. But one day, when Misty came back, while they were walking to the Pokémon Centre, he had just come up to her, put it on her head and kissed her.

Raising her hand, she traces the outline of the "L" for "League", and felt a soft smile lift the corner of her lips. She kept doing that for a while, and eventually her lids began to droop of their own accord. Finally, a distant part of her thought, she could get some rest...

An image of a lifeless Ash and a blood stained road flashed into her head and her eyes snapped open and her hand fell from its place on the hat. Terror once again flooded her body. At this point Misty didn't know whether to scream to cry and resisted the urge to scream into her pillow. A string of colourful words ran through her mind as, she rolled over onto her stomach, laying there in self-pity.

_He's fine, Misty. He's in the next bed __**sleeping.**_

She lifted her head up to glare in the direction of her sleeping boyfriend, jealously filling her at his ability to sleep without horrible images of death. But pretty soon the glare subsided and she was left simply staring in envy.

A few moments passed by, before an idea came to her mind.

She contemplated the thought, it could work. They were dating; she had the privilege to do these things... right?

Well it was definitely one of her more spontaneous plans, a bit too much for her liking. At the thought of her nightmare, she decided to take the risk, what'd she have to lose anyway? Throwing her blankets off, she slipped out of her bed and quietly padded across the room to her partner's bed.

But as she neared the bed, she reassessed her sudden plan. With the spur of the moment gone, embarrassment rushed to her cheeks as she fully considered the actions she'd be taking. Girlfriend or not, it'd be rather sudden to just ask, and they'd only been going out for a few months now, what if it was too much? Her boldness faded each passing second, the plan crumbling to pieces at her feet.

Biting her lip, she glanced over at the bed less than a meter away. Ash was softly snoring away. Watching with a soft gaze, she brought a tentative hand to brush away his dark bangs from his face. He shifted slightly, but remained asleep.

At this she made up her mind and she abandoned her plan. Whether they were dating or not she refused to disturb him because of her own problems, she'd already woken Ash before to tell him about it– she'd just suck it up and _somehow_ force sleep to come and try not to think about… _that_ dream.

However, just as she turned to make her way back, she caught her toe on the edge of the table separating the beds, causing her to let out a squeak and stumble forward.

She hopped about, squeezing her now bruised toe in agony and cursed silently. Misty herself could've laughed at how painfully clumsy she was being at almost 3 in the morning.

_Thud!_

She flinched at the loud noise that seemed to echo around the room. The red-head looked down in horror at the fallen vase, but noted gratefully that it hadn't shattered. A groan coming from the bed made her tense up again. Of course, Ash had woken up due to the sound. She felt like pulling her hair out, she'd only wanted some rest! How in the hell was she going to cover this up?

"Misty?" Ash called out groggily, as he sat up in his bed.

_Okay, calm down. You can still get out of this,_Misty thought. "Sorry, I just came back from the toilet and I knocked into the table on my way back," she explained softly. She was surprised at how calm she sounded, even when her limbs still felt like jelly and her toe ached.

Misty mentally coaxed Ash to go back to sleep undisturbed. To her relief he seemed to accept her answer and was already moving to lie down again.

Then the horn of a passing car outside bounced on all four corners of the room. Ugh, what _great_timing.

Misty couldn't push down her agitation. Her bent form froze in the midst of picking up the vase, her hand visibly starting to shake as the memories of the God-awful dreams came back to her. And this time, Ash noticed. Instantly he was more awake, and he sat up completely; worry flooding his features at his girlfriend's trembling form.

He reached over, touching her arm lightly. "Mist? What's wrong?"

Said girl swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat, willing her voice not to waver. "Nothing, don't worry."

Brown eyes hardened. "_Something_ is wrong Misty. What aren't you telling me?"

She didn't answer, but as she relived the nightmare over and over in her conscious mind her uneasiness visibly grew. His gaze softened, "Did you have the nightmare again?"

"I felt so helpless and I was so scared and… I-I didn't mean to wake you up," she replied, vaguely answering his question. It didn't matter though; he already knew enough about the dream to know the answer.

Ash looked at her, and after a moment, pulled his blankets over slightly. "Come here," he'd said it in such a caring manner, Misty's heart warmed.

Up to this point though, Misty had kept her gaze towards the ground. Her eyes met his slowly, and she felt her face heat up. "Uh, but-"

Her boyfriend tightened his grip on her arm and pulled her down into his bed. "It's fine, Misty really. I know; nightmares suck. But I'm here aren't I? I'm not going anywhere."

Despite the redness of her cheeks, she crawled underneath the covers and relaxed while listening to Ash cooing soft words into her ear. Before she could turn to face away from him, an arm encircled her waist, effective trapping her.

She took in his distinct scent, warmth spreading throughout her body. Already the terror that had been coursing through her veins had faded. It did work; looks like she had nothing to worry about.

Misty stayed content. She could faintly feel Ash's fingers running through her hair. For the second time her eyes started to droop shut, but she knew she'd be able to fall asleep this time, wrapped in his strong, familiar arms.

"Thank you, Ash." she managed to mumble out sleepily.

And maybe she was imagining it, but she could've sworn she felt his hold on her tighten.


End file.
